The Healing Power of Gardens
Last week when the native plant vendor showed up at my standing looking for something to grill I traded him for some perennials. As much as I love the big showy annuals in planters for my porch, I’ve begun focusing my attention on plants that will return year after year with little intervention. So far I’ve amassed irises, poppies, peonies, and an assortment of spring bulbs. I tried planting sunchokes last year only to have the wild critters excavate them for winter meals. Let’s hope they are as persistent and invasive as promised. Each spring when I help Mom clean up her yard she’s sent me home with an assortment of bushes that have spread beyond their bounds—lilacs, holly, gooseberry, spirea, pampas grass, and pussy willow.
I’ll admit I’m a bit spoiled in that my compost pile is the size of a Metro bus and that I can scoop up a couple cubic yards at a clip. But that’s nothing compared to the field farmers who cultivate on a scale few can imagine.
Last year at this time we were in the early stages of locking down and coming to grips with what was happening. The trend wasn’t hard to miss as customers toted boxes and pots of vegetable starts, herbs and ornamentals in addition to their regular items. “Can I sit this here for a minute?” became a common request from patrons juggling more than they could carry. I was surprised by how many people admitted to never growing something for themselves to eat.
The results were more infectious than the Corona virus as people found they could grow cherry tomatoes in pots on their balcony. Some ripped out ornamental plants for food plots, a few went so far as to purchase homes with room to grow their own. Regardless of how much they chose to grow the response is always the same—this is a lot of work. “I eat way more than I have room to grow,” was the reality most encountered. Now try doing that for hundreds, even thousands of people every single week for an entire growing season. The seasonal growers returning to market and some of the year-round farms, too, have begun their outdoor cultivation on a scale that would gobsmack most.
Plots of peppers the size of the parking lot, rows of chard the length of city blocks. Take a look at the vendors’ tables and count the variety of products. Mock’s Greenhouse grows 30,000 pounds of tomatoes each year selling not only at regional farmers markets, but to larger grocery stores like Whole Foods. Mock’s also grow lettuces and herbs in their 14 greenhouses.
Spiral Path Farm has 300 acres under Certified Organic production for their CSA with over 40 locations, including the Bethesda market where they offer a wide variety of produce. Additionally, they are a local supplier for Wegman’s.
Westmoreland Produce with 120 acres farmed by the Medina family since 1989 was back at market last week for the first time since last year. Always well stocked with vegetable starts for containers and backyard gardens this time of year, it’s not hard to see why patrons decided to give growing a go themselves.
“It really felt good to put my hands in the dirt,” was another sentiment passed along from my urban-dwelling gardeners. It’s no secret that dirt has the power to sooth the weary soul. Physical contact with soil, especially the bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae has the ability to raise serotonin levels similar to the chemical effect caused by pharmaceuticals.
So hustle on over to the farmers market and find something to plant. Get your hands in the dirt to help shake off the blues of this last year and look forward to all the delicious fruits and vegetables about to come into season whether you or your farmers grow them.